Bluebird of Happiness

I made this Bluebird of Happiness quilt in remembrance of my husband, David, who died in 1986 at the age of 44. The pattern I used for the bluebird was taken from a coloring book drawing by Florence Sarah Winship. The background fabric was hand-dyed by Carol Eaton formerly of Shelton, CT.

The song, “The Bluebird of Happiness” made famous in 1945 by the opera tenor, Jan Peerce, had special significance for my husband because his father used to sing this song to him when he was a little boy. Sadly, his father died in 1950 when my husband was only 8 years old.

In late 1976, after we had been dating for a few months, I asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he asked for a copy of this song. Well, in 1976, the Internet (as we know it today) didn’t exist - and because of that, I spent many weeks of frantic searching, lots of praying and then by no small miracle - in the yellow pages of a phonebook, I found a vintage record shop (over 50 miles away) in Hartford, CT that had the exact song he wanted. Over the phone, the store owner told me he had a record album with the song in it and the album cover even had a picture of a bluebird on it! I ordered it sight unseen! I will never forget the look on my husband's face when he opened that Christmas present that year. It was unforgettable!

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Genealogy Quilt

Years ago, I became interested in genealogy and tracing my family tree back as far as I could go on both sides of my family. In 2010, I made this "genealogy quilt" focusing on my mother, Irene. I made this small quilt to look like a desk blotter. Some of the things I included in this small quilt are pictures from her high school class, family pictures, census information about her and vintage postcards from the area in Vermont where she grew up. My mother passed away in 2014 at age 95. Genealogy Quilt #1

Full Moon Over Stonehenge

I made this small (12"x12") art quilt for the 2016 SAQA Benefit Auction . It's called, "Full Moon Over Stonehenge." I used a navy-blue speckled fabric for the night sky background. I bought some Stonehenge fabrics by Northcott that I used for the vertical sarsen stones and the horizontal lintel stone. The moon is a piece of very thin, silver lamé fabric, which I bonded to the background with Mistyfuse. Within the radiating quilting lines, I added some Swarovski crystals for stars. (It sold for $150.)

Alzheimer's Quilt

Auction quilt for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative I have just finished making a small donation quilt for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) founded by Ami Simms. Rules for making a donation quilt can be found on her web site. The address is: http://www.alzquilts.org/index.html Just click on the link on the left side for Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts to see the rules for submission of quilts. The information about my quilt #2755 is listed on the link below and a picture of my quilt should be posted any day now. The link for quilts waiting for assignment is: http://www.alzquilts.org/quwaas.html Quilts are auctioned off monthly. You can donate a quilt and bid on a quilt for sale to help support this worthy cause. The latest auction of quilts is found on this link: http://www.alzquilts.org/loatallqu.html Update 10/30/08: I recently learned that my quilt was purchased and that it earned $49.70 for AAQI. Not bad for a tiny quilt that's only 8...

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